The Sun Remembers May 19-25

The Orioles fired Frank Robinson and replaced him with first base coach Johnny Oates on May 23, 1991.

The Orioles fired Frank Robinson and replaced him with first base coach Johnny Oates on May 23, 1991. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /)

Mike Klingaman, The Baltimore Sun

May 23, 1991: Mired in last place, the Orioles fire manager Frank Robinson and promote Johnny Oates, 45, the team's first base coach and a former Baltimore player. Oates will manage nearly four years here (291 wins and 270 losses) before going to Texas, where he is named 1996 American League Manager of the Year.

May 25, 1985: Del Dressel's three goals lead Johns Hopkins past Syracuse, 11-4, for the NCAA lacrosse championship. The four goals by the Orangemen are the fewest allowed in a title game, a mark that will stand until 2012.

May 23, 1978: Top-seeded Brian Gibbons of Loyola defeats Pam Shriver of McDonogh, 6-3, 6-4, for the Maryland Scholastic Association tennis championship at Gilman. "I was serving so bad, it was ridiculous," says Shriver, 15, a sophomore. Four months later, she'll lose to Chris Evert in the finals of the U.S. Open.

May 24, 1970: Beaned early in the first game of a doubleheader against visiting Boston, Brooks Robinson shakes it off, stays in the lineup and hits a 10th-inning, game-winning home run in the Orioles' 2-1 victory over the Red Sox. It's the sixth time Robinson has been hit in the head with a pitch.

May 19, 1960: Miami (Ohio) University confers an honorary Doctor of Athletic Arts degree on Weeb Ewbank, class of 1928, for achieving national prominence in leading the Colts to back-to-back NFL championships. "I came here owing Miami a lot, and this makes the debt even greater," Ewbank says.

May 19, 1959: The Orioles defeat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1, on a two-run, inside-the-park home run by pitcher Billy O'Dell. "I'll take all of those I can get," O'Dell says after hitting a lazy fly ball in the second inning that strikes the wooden right-field foul line at Memorial Stadium and caroms away from outfielder Al Smith toward the bleachers.

May 23, 1954: "Bullet" Bob Feller, 35, pitches the Cleveland Indians to a 14-3 win over the visiting Orioles. It's the 250th career victory for Feller, who allows eight hits and strikes out two in a complete game.

May 24, 1914: Chased in the fourth inning of the Orioles' 9-4 victory over the Newark Indians, left-hander Babe Ruth then starts the second game of the doubleheader and goes the distance in a 1-0 Baltimore win.

Birthday

May 20, 1942: Leroy Kelly, Pro Football Hall of Fame running back for the Cleveland Browns, who'd starred at Morgan State and who still holds several records there.